Nier: Syren
"The World is Bound to Change" NieR:Syren, codenamed ''NieR: New Project 2 ''is an action adventure/role playing game released in November 2020. It is a prequel to the original NieR, taking place before the Watcher attack and the Black Scrawl pandemic. This time, as Automata focused more on machines and the meaning of existence, Syren will focus on mythlogical beasts and evolution; the evolution and struggle of man's soul. The main logo is "NieR:Syren" except the "dot" in "i" is replaced with a Egyptian "ra" symbol. Yoko Taro, founding the Drakengard Team in November 2017, later adapted the Morandal Engine for work on their game to ensure that the game can have improved action and gameplay. The game got positive reception, focusing more on the combat improvements and continuation of new ideas into the NieR franchise. Plot "It's not the same sight we see every day. Everyday I wake up, there's something waiting for us to do. There's not a whole lot around us to see, but I do already know, the world is bound to change..." In the study of ancient magic, Daras, an champion sorcerer plans to learn more about the ancient magic and it's way of evolution. Daras will fight against the mythlogical beasts including imps, lamias, golems, demons, etc during his search. Teaming up with a human Devola and Popola, he begins his journey across the land to search for the rituals and the way of the world. Prologue "The world is bound to change. Every so often, I go on this task everyday, but there's something I feel about it. It's not the same as we do everyday, but as we look around us, there's something I want to talk about." Daras, a champion sorcerer, is sent to go on a mission to hunt down a target, a wilderness beast known as the Asmodian, in the forest of Sina. Upon investigating, he notices that the predators seem to be evolving. Wielding only a sword and a cube he was gifted with known as the Magi, he uses it's blaster to fight against the predators. Upon reaching the target, known as the Asmodian, he notices that the beast was evolved from demons, which they have never fought before. After Daras executes the Asmodian, it is however vanished by smoke as it faints to the ground, as if it's actually a demon trap whatsoever. Seeing this, Daras is then surrounded by various demons he had never seen before. Taking advantage of that, he was teleported back to the Magi Realm thanks to the Goddess's carings on the Magi, as they weren't ready to face that new evil yet. Magi Realm "The world has gone under a dark sector. We are ultimately working to take care of the demons, and destroy all of the Dark Sectors. This is why you, the Magi forces, exist." Daras had returned to the Magi Realm, the Magi, codenamed Magi Faust. Daras is ordered on his next mission; to challenge the demons and cleanse the world of all evil, so they can put an end to the so-called Dark Sectors. Daras returns to the earth with another sorcerer named Rahab, with another Magi codenamed "Noel" to meet up with the town known as the Light Sector to recon. Eye on the Magi Daras and Rahab are ordered another mission by the Commander to search for the missing Asmodian. However, returning to where the Asmodian was during Dara's solo mission, the Asmodian was missing. Magi Faust says that there might be some sort of demon energy that is trying to take advantage of Daras's new powers. Noel sees this as their "new threat to be aware off" meaning even though Daras and Rahab are powerful sorcerers, the enemy would try and rebuild their own powers as well. A mysterious humanoid demon codenamed the Stygian engravings jump down, and then challenges the two to a fight. Daras and Rahab defeat the warrior, but he then explodes into black smoke. Daras and Rahab leave the area and tell the Commander about their report. Lulu and Rin Daras is sent alone on an another mission; to meet up with two soldiers named Lulu and Rin. In the caverns down below, Daras, with his lantern searches around, and hears talking that is supposed to be Lulu and Rin. However, after going there he sees that the Lulu and Rin, are actually decoys created by the demons. Another humanoid demon, codenamed the Seeker, jumps down and engages Daras in a fight. She tells Daras what their role is; warriors who have a purpose to serve for and fight for, and the demons' purpose is to change the world and shuffle them around; giving them a fight. The Seeker explodes into black smoke, similar to how the Stygian did. However, the Seeker left the ring behind, which is going to be meaningful for the Magi spirits later. Teaming with Joshua Daras is sent on a another mission, this time he has to team up with an agent named Joshua. On his search for the Asmodians' power, he comes across what resembles to be one of the Magi soldiers, however after coming closer it appears to be a trap by one of the demon forces as well. Daras and Joshua fight them off and find some clues relating to the Demons there. The Demons Daras aims to fight off the demon forces that are approaching the Magi forces. Emil Revisited Daras is sent on another mission with Rahab, but a masked man awaits him on the other side... The Great Escape Daras and Rahab escape the explosion that blew up the shrine, but they are on the run from the Asmodians. Confrontation Daras and Rahab get into a showdown with one of the major Asmodians, but this is only the beginning of things... The Turnaround Daras and Rahab, after making a blow against the Asmodians, decide to launch an attack against the remaining army of Asmodians, but... The Standoff Daras is killed by an traitor Magi named Garrel, who believed that Daras' intend was to evolve toward the power within the Asmodians... Dazzled and Dazed Rahab is blown away by an runaway Asmodian. After seeing that Daras was killed, Rahab later evolves her emotions to be more agitated. Lost in Valhalla Another soldier fighting against the Asmodians, named Desdemona stops Rahab in her footsteps in trying to kill the Magi forces. Out of the Shadows Desdemona, Garrel, and Rahab get into a fight. Eventually, they start to evolve towards grudges to each other, but someone mysterious is tracking them... Magi at the Gates of Hell The three end up at the dark purgatories created by the Asmodian forces. However, they confront what they could make out to be an re-formed Daras... Order Up! The three are later joined up by Devola and Popola for Magi repairs. However, they have to hunt down the new parasites; new weapons that the Asmodians have been creating... Last Light Night falls, and the blood moon casts over the lands. The three have to hurry to survive an new onslaught of Asmodian forces. Apocalyptic Storm A red thunderstorm casts, and the reformed body of Daras awakens under the name of Zotac, born from thousands of souls that were released from the monsters. In the meantime, Rahab and the others have to race to the Solace Mountain to resolve this issue. The Drift An earthquake occurs which sends each other seperate each other. While racing through the area, Devola and Popola reach their limits and are unable to continue on. The Chasm The three reach the chasm and see Solace Mountain, where the red thunderstorms are ringing. While at it, an gigantic phoenix Asmodian is lately re-used as a way of transportation. Sky Scraper The three race to the top of the mountain while fighting against Asmodians, while in the mean-time Zotac is also doing the same thing as well. Epilogue After nearly killing Zotac, Rahab uses her Magi to re-incarnate him, Zotac changes his mind and instead will go after the last Asmodian via another Asmodian dragon that has evolved as well. The End After the explosion against the Asmodian, the Magi forces disband because they have no-need of protection against the evils anymore... Characters The game stars a new hero named Daras, along with a weapon known as a Magi which is an magic cube. Daras is a champion sorcerer who seeks to find out the truth behind himself and his pact with the Magi. There are five playable characters, each with their own abilties and only playable in certain chapters. Playable Characters Gameplay The game plays more like the NieR games, as Gestalt/Replicant used an Grimoire, Automata used an Pod, Syren will have Daras (the main character) use an tool known as the Magi, an magic cube that serves and protects as the owner's support. The combat is the same as Automata, with the following enhancements: *Elements: Water, fire, earth, thunder. Each element has it's own stylish effects. For example, fire lets you summon flaming slashes. Water lets you cast freezing particles, Earth lets you summon heavy strikes, and Thunder casts thunderbolts on your enemies if you strike at them. Each enemy in the lategame has elements, so use the right element! Fire has damage over time, and ice allows you to delay your enemies attacks, thunder has you stun the enemies and disarming them, and Earth allows you to break heavy defenses. *Magi: The Magi is an upgraded version of the Pod with custom jewels known as Crests. Crests are special mods for your Magi weapons, either to apply elements, increase damage, or are specific to the weapon itself. **Combinations: Magi special attacks are known as Miracles, where you can call upon giant magic blasts to damage your enemy. You can also customize them to be fluid to your combat style. One new system is combinations, where if you combine both Miracles, you get an Nexus. Nexuses cost more magic, but are much more stronger. **Customization: You can now paint the Magi Cube throughout a hexagram like color palette, giving them a much more dynamic fashion. You can customize your sorcerer uniforms through various paint jobs and badges that you can obtain. You can also get certain paint jobs that have patterns instead of colors. *Weapons: Aside from swords, spears, and punches, there are chakram, hammers, and glaives. Chakram are throwable ranged weapons. Hammers are slower and do blunt damage which is best on solid/rock enemies. Glaives are like spears but have blades on both sides. *Skill Trees: There's now a skill tree where you can upgrade your stats, combos, your Magi. You can unlock time distorting dodges and parries as well in the combat tree. *Customization: Daras can equip 1 armor, 5 rings, 1 necklace, 2 relics, and 2 weapon sets with 2 weapons each. Rings boost various stats, Necklace boosts all stats greatly, while relics give special enhancements to Daras. *Critical Strikes: Daras can hold breath, and scan the enemy for any critical points. Time stops, and if there are critical points, Daras can make an precise critical strike for 2.5x the normal damage which is effective against armored enemies. *Ship: You can travel around in an ship later on in an full-on open world style. *HUD: HUD can be customized to suit your needs. You can adjust the map alignment, turn the HUD off for blind runs, and remove the text indicating your level. *Difficulties: Aside from the four main difficulties, there's an option where you can now play without any experience gain, meaning the enemies level is fixed to level 1 and neither of your enemies/player has any level. A fifth difficulty called "Spartan" can be unlocked, which unlike the other difficulties is always bound to a save file instead of the options, where it renders the game at the same "Hard" curve, but the player and the enemy's stats are fixed, and the enemies are much more aggressive, meaning the only thing you unlock when leveling up is skill points. *R3+L3 Skill: Each character has an independent skill, whether it be using special moves that cost mana such as panic attacks or speed-up buffs. The body system from Automata returns as you can revive dead sorcerers or retrieve them to gain some gold and a temporary buff. Save points are represented by idols of the Goddess that the Magi use as their usurper. Magi Miracles These cost 100 to 300 mana. You can only hold a maximum of 300 mana. Nexuses Weapons (TBA) Elite Weapons Those are weapons which are more powerful then the regular weapons (higher stats, and a bonus skill in each of them) Note that sealed crests are a blacklist of crests that can be used on those weapons. Relics Crests The crests exclusive to all weapons including the Magi boost mana gain efficency, drop rate, or add elements to it. Only one elemental crest can be added to a weapon. A * means this is elemental. A + means this can be leveled up to 5. Weapon-Specific Crests Magi-Specific Crests These are crests exclusive to the Magi weapons. A * means all Magi weapons can take it. The "Compatible Mods" was for crests that affect the weapon through it's combat style, not it's stats. Only Mastery affects the Nexuses and Miracles. A Magi can take 2 weapon mods, 1 stat booster, and 1 elemental crest. Endings There will be 50 endings from I to L indicating in Roman numericals. I to VII being the true endings, and the latter being the "joke" endings. Upon getting ending VII, the ending allows you to add your message to the players, and have the option of sacrificing your save data to help out another player and be added to the high scores list and leaderboards for all of the other players on the game to see. Achievements Reception NieR Syren has gotten positive reception so far, while praise for it's customization and combat improvements. It got 80's on Metacritic, an 8/10 on IGN and GameSpot. On Miiverse, popular posts include: *Fanart of the NieR series (crossover between series) *Weapon reviews and Magi reviews *Secrets and endings *Sacrificing their data to be added to the highscores (which later lead to an unbreakable record where an hardcore American player got the high score for beating the game straight on Very Hard and then sacrificing their data, with a total playtime of 5:42:35 in one sitting) *Weapon lore and theories *"We interrupt NieR to bring you Drakengard!" (the final boss is where you have to ride on a dragon that uses the Magi weapons) NieR Ultima Yoko Taro plans to add another sequel to NieR to end it all; NieR Ultima, meaning the ultimate sacrifice to restart all life. NieR Ultima takes place at 100,666 AD, where meteors had been crushing the earth's atmosphere, leaving nothing but craters and a dead wasteland. However, what forms from the meteor is a new angelic lifeform known as Helion, meaning being of the sun. One Helion unit, known as Isaiah, must roam the land to find out why he exists, and his purpose to serve in the dead Earth. Trivia *The Super Sword effects are inspired by Bayonetta's Wicked Weaves. *The Magi Climax is based off Bayonetta's Umbran Climax. *Although NieR is set in the future, NieR Syren instead goes in reverse to tie in with historical myths. Sub-pages Nier: Syren/Weapons Nier: Syren/World Category:Action Role-Playing Games Category:Hack and Slash Games Category:2020 Category:Action Adventure Games Category:PlayStation 4 Games Category:Nintendo Switch Games Category:Xbox One Games Category:Action Games Category:Adventure Games Category:Rated D CERO Games